Werewolves of Bloomfield Hills

Chapter 24

Bale paced about the druid's office with his hands clasped behind his back. His face creased with worry as he pondered over what Hendell had told him. It burdened him to know that perhaps, he was the only one thinking straight in The Council. True everyone was freaked out by the pressure on them, but it was no excuse for them to gamble with their fates or to start taking advice from Canaan, a man whom he knew was pro-war. As the Zeta of The Council's Army, it was pretty obvious Canaan would suggest what was best for him, so they had to be careful with the decisions they made because it wouldn't matter which side they were on (Council or Resistance) if, at the end of the day, they were going to disobey the Paranormal Bureau. So coming to that conclusion, Bale decided to confront the zeta himself.

"You know what, Hendell, why don't you just FaceTime Canaan, let me speak to him myself," he told the druid, turning his attention back to his seat.

"Alright, I'll do that" Hendell grunted a reply, then began to call the zeta. He dialed the zeta's line once, twice, and on the third, a handsome but rugged-looking man with a burn on his face (which he received during an encounter with the reptile Carl) picked the call; and after a few salutations, Hendell passed the phone to Bale.

"What do I hear about you suggesting we take 'death-level' drastic measures?" Bale asked immediately after formal greetings were exchanged.

"Bridle your tongue princess. I only answer to The Council. I don't have to explain things to you" the man on the screen, shot back haughtily as though he was battling an enemy.

"Yes, you do. I'm a member of The Council so you owe me some explanations." Bale demanded, earning himself a dangerous stare from Canaan"

"What an entitled brat," Canaan muttered under his breath, then replied. "It's nothing ambiguous. All I'm suggesting is that we go back to abducting the reptiles and torturing the truth out of them."

"That didn't work before. What makes you think it'll work now?"

"If we're extreme and inflict more pain, it'll work. Those slimy bastards might be good at enduring pain, but they surely have a limit they can't exceed; a threshold we haven't reached yet."

"Fine. But look, Canaan, as brilliant as your plan sounds, I don't like it. It's very risky because the outcome wouldn't matter if we disobey the Bureau." Bale reminded him.

"That's the beauty of it because they wouldn't find out." Canaan insisted. "Nobody would, not even the reptiles would if we execute it discreetly," he concluded, sounding so sure and confident of his idea.

"Alright, but you'll have to give us time to think about this" Bale requested

"You better think fast, 'cause time's ticking" Canaan reminded him then ended the call. There was a brief moment of silence in the room before Hendell spoke.

"So what do you think?" he asked Bale

"I don't like both Canaan and his idea, but we don't have much of a choice here. And we're short on better ideas too." Bale looked exasperated

"Exactly what I thought. So I guess, I'll have to discuss this with the other members and see what they have to say about this"

"Go ahead. That'd be better." Bale replied, glancing at his watch, then said. "I'll be leaving now if that's all" he glanced at the druid and he nodded in consent.

The next day in the Druid's Tower, Penny woke up early as she always did. She turned to her calendar first, crossing a line on her fifth day here in The Druid's before she went to have her bath. In the bathroom, Penny took quite a lot of time as thoughts filled her head. She was excited that soon she'd be free from the confinement of this citadel, but at the same time worried at how tense things would be back in Bloomfield Hills. She knew much was expected of her, but since she had no control of things, she decided to leave her worries to fate. Once she had come to that conclusion, she finished her bath quickly, then left to go wear clothes before she heard a bang on her door. Suspecting that'd it'd be Jane or Topher, she wrapped a towel about her body then went to open the door, but shockingly she found Bale instead.

"What the fuck..." she yelped when she saw him, then slammed the door almost as quickly as she'd opened it.

"Open the door" Bale demanded, knocking on the door again

"Can't you see I'm not wearing any clothes? What do you want?" she asked him

"Did you forget what we discussed yesterday? C'mon I'm here to start your training"

"Now?"

"Yes, NOW!"

"Okay, just wait there let me put some clothes on," she screamed then darted towards her wardrobe and hurriedly wore some deodorants, her clothes, and a flat-soled ankle boot. After that, she checked herself out on a mirror before she went to open the door again for Bale.

"That was fast" Bale blurted out, unable to hide his astonishment.

"Yea, that's sort of my superpower" Penny replied, looking flustered, and together they left, climbing down a flight of stairs before they reached the ground foyer. There, Bale picked a couple of things before they left for his car (a Tundra TRD Pro) packed in the compound.

"A Tundra?" Penny exclaimed when they reached the car. "Where are we going and why do we need a heavy-duty truck?"

"Because we're going to Marquette. And maybe Lake Superior later." Bale replied to her and then they entered the truck and left the Druid's Tower.